Emotions – Page 2 – THE INQUISITIVE NEWT

The Secret Sunshine Project by Benjamin Dean and Sandhya Prabhat is one of the amazing novels that my children got in their advent calendar from the superb Wonderland Books.

The story follows Bea, as her happy family of four become a sadder family of three. After the death of her dad, Bea’s family starts to struggle financially and it becomes necessary to move in with Bea’s grandmother – far away from London in the countryside.

The countryside – miles and miles from London Pride, where Bea’s family was last happy. Miles and miles from the one event that Bea and her sister Riley were looking forward to. So Bea decides to take matters into her own hands, and begins The Secret Sunshine Project. If she and Riley can’t go to Pride, she’s going to bring Pride to this village – whether her gran’s arch-nemesis and head of the village council likes it or not!

I really, really loved this book. Though it dealt with incredibly serious subjects – family death, financial instability, systemic racism, as well as trans- and homo-phobia – The Secret Sunshine Project never once felt hopeless. Whilst I loved Norah’s Ark, there were times when I needed to put the book down and take a moment because of the subject matter, but that didn’t once happen here. I read the whole thing in a single, joyful sitting, and came away from it feeling uplifted.

The book doesn’t end perfectly, and any resolution the characters enjoy is a temporary respite in the grand scheme of things, but it felt real, and honest, and hopeful nevertheless.

The ‘dead parent’ trope is one that’s used fairly commonly in children’s fiction – and I should know, I used it myself in my upcoming novel – but it’s sometimes feels like it isn’t properly dealt with. I thought The Secret Sunshine Project did an absolutely wonderful job of this though.

What are your favourite books for Pride month? I would especially love to hear about those by LGBT+ authors – especially trans authors at this time.

Fran ❤

I’ve set up a ‘bookshop‘ of sorts, over on Bookshop.org, so that I can point you to somewhere to buy that isn’t Amazon. I get a small commission for any sales made there. This helps to support me running this blog. If you’d like to get your copy of The Secret Sunshine Project this way, please just click here. Thank you for your support.

Millie’s Marvelous Hat, by Satoshi Kitamura is a wonderfully warm, tongue-in-cheek book which follows a young girl on her walk home. It begins when she stops by a hatter’s shop and tries to buy a glorious hat displayed in the window. On discovering she is penniless, the shop-keeper fetches her a ‘magic’ hat from the back room. This hat changes appearance, depending on what Millie sees and feels.

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At face value, the book is a lovely romp through a child’s imagination, but it also offers a myriad of opportunities to discuss emotions and how the way we act can improve another’s day.

The passage which particularly helped to illustrate this was when Millie smiled at an old lady, causing some of the creatures from her hat fly over to the woman’s. The happiness felt by Millie was suddenly gifted to a passer-by through the simple act of smiling – something that all of us would do well to remember.

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The beautiful, colourful illustrations feel like a breath of fresh air and the details in the various hats which Millie imagines kept myself and the children looking for hours. Even a child too young for the story itself would find value in looking at the pictures.

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Whilst I do love the story, I feel that it’s the artwork in this book which makes it truly magical. I can’t imagine this working nearly so well without the glorious pictures.

This is the sort of book that I’d seek out in hardback to gift to people – a real keep-sake – and I wish that I could find prints of the illustrations to hang in my own bedroom, never mind the children’s! The palette of colours is so fresh and crisp that I can’t imagine ever getting tired of looking at them.

This story never fails to make me smile and inspire me – which books make you feel the same way?

Farn ❤